Kingdom Hearts: Towards the Ultimate Fantasy
by Chris Talonflight
Summary: SEQUAL TO KINGDOM HEARTS SOUND OF RISING STORM. when darkness turns to light, and light turns to darkness, Chris must face the final nightmare in defense of a world he loves... and has lost. The pieces are set. Prepare yourself for the truly FINAL fantasy
1. Chapter 1

KINGDOM HEARTS: Disc Five:

Towards The Ultimate Fantasy

Chapter 1: Chris Talonflight: Sweet Life

**THEN:**

"Yuffie," I said as I had said the night she had first started to have feelings for me. "Yuffie, will you kiss me?"

She smiled, and laughed, and almost cried—and kissed me, still laughing. She pulled away, and beat her fists on my chest.

"What?" I asked, surprised.

"You can't do this to me! I can't feel all this at once!" Yuffie laughed.

"Then just feel this."

I kissed her again, softly, slowly drawing her in, and in the pleasant blur of minutes that followed, we built out passion. Thoughts came buzzing like flies, but I ignored them. As our kisses became more heated, those thoughts, all thoughts, dimmed into the background and disappeared altogether beneath the scents of lavender and faint sweat and her breath, and the feel of her weight on my lap and her hands on my body and my hands on her. She moved her hips against me.

I jumped to my feet. Eyes wide, I cleared my throat.

"The bedroom can't be far." I said. "If you can wait five minutes-"

Yuffie grabbed me. We didn't wait.

**NOW: 13 MONTH'S LATER.**

I stood on the balcony of my friend's apartment in New York City.

Not having to work today, I could do as I pleased. Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, and I were registered guardians of Hollow Bastion. Since Hollow Bastion was only rarely under attack, they were usually making free money. It wasn't that hard to pass the tests they had. Honestly, I think I did better then them.

I was visiting my friends in Reality, or rather, Earth, as my friends called it. I had been born here in New York, but since then I had spread my wings, and somehow ended up in the universe of Kingdom Hearts.

My friend Nudge poked my leg, asking for food. Smiling at him, I reached into a pocket, and pulled out the remains of a candy bar. That was one thing I missed about Earth: the food. Somehow, I missed plain Dominoes Pizza.

Nudge, a tame, overpowered shadow, was my best friend, with the exception of David Frostmourne, and my wife Yuffie. He was about the size of a Pikachu Pokémon, small enough to sit on my shoulder comfortably. His antennae were straight, with only a single, 45 degree turn near the end. Around his neck was a white collar. Nudge had picked it out himself. While Nudge had a pleasant and active personality, he was a fierce and deadly fighter, and had saved my life on numerous occasions. Nudge was extremely overpowered for a shadow heartless. He had singlehandedly taken down three giant heartless on his own: one Darkside, one Guard Armor, and a Leechgrave. He was kind to anyone he deemed his friend, but to my good friend David Frostmourne, my girlfriend Yuffie Kisaragi Stromwind, and me, he was devoted, although with me he was loyal to a different degree altogether. It was like he was my little brother/puppy.

David Frostmourne was a veteran of many impossible missions. He had worked for King Mickey nearly all of his life. Whenever I saw him, I was reminded of my old life on Earth.

That life was gone for good. When our world had been taken over by heartless and destroyed, I, along with several of my friends, had ended up in Traverse Town, with a few people named Leon, Aerith, Cid, and Yuffie. My friends and I had gained several powers: my friend Rodney had gained a broadsword and the power of lightning; my friend C had gained a Demyx Guitar and control over water; and my last friend Ashley had gained the keyblade Lurebreaker. Rodney had been captured by a powerful Dark Inquisitor named Johnson, who had plotted along with the villains of various worlds to gain control of Kingdom Hearts, the sum total of all hearts that have been freed by a keyblade. Johnson had turned Rodney into a hybrid human-cyborg, and set him against us. Rodney had eventually broken his hold on him, and had returned to our side.

Yuffie and I had met the same day that I had arrived in a world called Traverse Town. We had developed a relationship, and I still bore her parting gift: my legendary healing Materia Curagala.

C and Ashley were the only two of my original friends who lived on Earth. Unlike me, they had families to return to; lives they had to live; college they had to attend. I wasn't interested in college or the glamour's of life on Earth anymore. Now that I had been married to Yuffie for two exciting months, I had been living in a house in Hollow Bastion, working alongside Leon and Aerith as Guardians of Radiant Garden, or, the GRG. I received income from killing heartless, and for guarding specific areas. For a person of my talents, that was easy. Rodney, however, I wasn't sure about. He had family and friends back on Earth, but he was kept from returning for a very sad reason: he was no longer fully human. He had been turned into a cyborg by Johnson.

As I looked out over the skyline, fingering my Materia, I wondered what my life would have been like had things been… different. Yuffie had given me this Materia, along with a Materia that could be changed into anything. I had transformed it into a Curagala Materia. A Curagala spell was one step up from a Curaga, and only Yen Sid himself could cast the spell. I remember that I had gone to Yen Sid's castle directly, and he had made a copy of my memories as payment for casting the spell. He had said that he was going to write a book, because my memories from my previous excursion had been so intriguing. I couldn't argue with that.

Over a year before, I had lived on Earth, a world separated from the worlds of fantasy. Then the Heartless had come, and had destroyed my world, sending it through the torn veil between Fantasy and Reality to merge with Kingdom Hearts. I had fought my way through several other worlds, along with my friends: Ashley, Rodney, and C.

At the end of my journey, we had encountered our greatest enemy so far: a man who called himself Johnson, who had wielded the power of darkness. I later learned he wasn't human, but a hybrid human-heartless-Universed known as an Inquisitor. I had faced him in combat at the end, and barely defeated him. He had died when he tried to summon the power of Kingdom Hearts. It had killed him instead. However, the door to Kingdom Hearts had been opened, and there was only one way to close it. Johnson had created a replica of me using power contained in the mysterious fortress known as Castle Oblivion, and the replica had rebelled against him and joined me. The replica agreed to be sealed inside Kingdom Hearts along with the King of Disney Castle, King Mickey. Their Keyblades, weapons that could lock and unlock worlds, combined with the power of my own keyblade, had locked Kingdom Hearts, and ensured that it could never be accessed from that point again... or so I hoped. My friends Ashley and C had been returned to our world when the door was locked, because re-locking the door would cause all of the worlds that had been destroyed to return to their place, which was, in their case, Earth. Another friend, David Frostmourne, had been returned to his world of Disney Castle: or so I hoped, but I had since suspected that Frostmourne had no true home.

After I had been left stranded in the Endless Abyss after locking Kingdom Hearts, I had managed to escape. Creating portals of darkness was no problem when you were in the realm of darkness, after all. I had ended up in a place which I knew, from my previous knowledge, was the remains of the world called The Land of Departure. There was a strange castle there, called Castle Oblivion, which worked on your memory in strange ways. The farther up I went towards the top of the castle, the more memories I would lose. However, I had to do it: a group of Nobodies, known as Organization XIII, had sent a few of their members there. I had no way of returning to Castle Oblivion once I left it, so I had to take my opportunity to slay a good half of their members. In the process, I had become friends with the humanoid heartless Ansem. When I reached the top, I had lost my memory completely. Namine, a nobody whom I suspected was Yuffie's nobody (Since Yuffie seemed to be taking the place of Kairi for the most part, and her heart had been removed at Hollow Bastion when Johnson kidnapped her to lure me to him), put me to sleep for a year while she fixed my memory. That was where things got complicated.

When I had been battling Johnson, I had been forced to turn into a heartless. Because of my singular powers of darkness, I escaped form the Heartless condition, but I still had my nobody created. I had no idea what my nobody had done in the intervening year between my falling asleep and my awakening, but I knew that only my nobody could have awakened me from that sleep, since he contained my final pieces of memory. I assumed that he had gone through the events of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.

I had woken up in Twilight Town. After travelling through a few worlds, and finding that some of my other friends had become Heartless and Nobodies (namely John/Nhoxj, who had PSI powers; Juan/Xanju, who had twin scythes; and Delorian/Nexus, who manipulated illusions, smoke, and glass [making a perfect opportunity for me to use my smoke and mirrors joke]), I wound up in Hollow Bastion, and was briefly reunited with Yuffie. However, when I was tricked into believing that Xanju had been killed, I succumbed to the darkness.

Frostmourne had arrived in time to save me, but I was unconscious for a few days. When I woke up, I found that Yuffie had been kidnapped by Organization XIII. On my way to their castle, I was reunited with Rodney, C, Ashley, Ansem, Nhoxj, Xanju, Nudge, another tame heartless named Trufflehunter, the King, and, surprisingly, my nobody, Xsirch. He had escaped again from my body when I had become a heartless temporarily in Hollow Bastion. He ended up joining me.

After getting Demyx and Axel to defect from the Organization, we were also reunited with Frostmourne and Namine, as well as Yuffie. Frostmourne and Yuffie had at this time gained keyblades.

To make a long story short, by the time we got to Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII, we had six humans, four Nobodies, three Heartless, and one mouse (Demyx had run away, and Axel had been killed). Fourteen people.

I sighed. After we had killed Xemnas, Ansem had gone to rule the realm of darkness. The king and Frostmourne had gone back to Disney Castle. Rodney had become Cid's partner in intergummi commerce. Donald and Goofy had never left Disney Castle. C and Ashley had returned to Earth. Nhoxj and Xanju had gone to the World That Never Was, and rebuilt a non-evil Organization themselves. Nexus/Delorian had apprenticed under Ansem/Xehanort's Heartless for a while, and was now residing in Traverse Town. Trufflehunter had gone with him. Xsirch and Namine had gone to live in Twilight Town. Demyx had decided to live in Atlantica. Nudge, Yuffie, and I had gone to live in Hollow Bastion/Twilight Town/Traverse Town, since we had the deeds to houses in all three worlds.

I summoned my keyblade, Last Chaos, in my hand. I had had the power of darkness. I had recently also discovered that I had some talent for the light as well. When I was in my most desperate moments, my keyblade would suddenly change, and instead of being a bat-winged keyblade, it would become an angel-winged keyblade.

"Something wrong?" A voice asked. C was sitting on the couch, playing Call of Duty 7.

"Nah." I shook my head. "Just tired."

"You've been here since five A.M., dude." C laughed.

"Only because I was busy kicking your ass in COD." I smirked.

Formerly, I, C, Rodney, and Ashley had been Kingdom Hearts nerds. Then we had found out that it was all coming true. Needless to say, we didn't really want to keep playing them after that. We had had enough sights of Xemnas and Ansem to last us for a good while.

I stretched. "It's been good seeing you, man." I gave C a pound. He paused his game, and said goodbye. Then I opened a portal of darkness and left the house.

I emerged in my house in Hollow Bastion. Nudge appeared a second later from his own dark portal. Yuffie was waiting on the couch.

The room was lit only by a few candles. The bed, instead of its usual white-blue sheets, was velvet red. There was a fire in the fireplace. Yuffie was wearing a red bikini, with a miniskirt. The soft moonlight was shining through the sliding glass doors to the pool. I could feel my adrenalin beginning to stir within the pit of my stomach as I caught sight of Yuffie in her outfit. My breath caught, and I couldn't help but let my eyes flick over her body. _Why would I hesitate, anyway? This is my WIFE._

"Are you all right?" She asked.

"Yeah." I smiled. I leaned down and kissed her. Even after two months, we still had that newlywed glow, according to Rodney and Leon. "I am now."

Nudge shook his head, and disappeared through a portal. He had a habit of doing that when I was having a romantic moment.

Yuffie smiled, and kissed me back. Her arms wound around my back. She pulled me down on top of her. I smelled her hair.

"Is that a new perfume?" I asked. Yuffie giggled an affirmative.

"I like it." I smiled, and Yuffie wrapped her legs around me. Lifting her, I carried her to the bedroom. Yuffie's arms intertwined behind my head, and she licked my neck, flicking her tongue across the smooth contours of my neck.

With a little bit of dark tendrils, I shed my clothes while still carrying Yuffie. In seconds, all I was wearing was my boxers. I could almost hear her heart beat as she begun to run her hands up my back, hiding her face within my chest, taking in my scent. I had sometimes caught her doing so while I slept. Her hands on my back moved to my chest and abdomen, moving down to my groin in a seductively slow pace.

When we reached the bedroom, I lay her down on the bed, straddling her. In a flash, she rolled me over, and she was on top.

I woke up in my bed; Yuffie snuggled up to me, her head resting on my chest. I felt an overwhelming sense of peace whenever I was with her. Her playful personality, her beautiful eyes, her beautiful face, her sensual body…

_All right, enough._ I said mentally. _I have to go to work._

I got up and stretched. Yuffie still slept in the bed, oblivious.

After a shower, I entered the kitchen. Food had never been a problem for us, considering that Yuffie was a ninja who could live off the land anywhere, and I was a teenager from New York who had often had to fend for myself for dinner. Eggs, steak, pasta… you name it, I'd make it.

I glanced around, and saw Nudge sitting on top of the table. My little friend either had a sixth sense that enabled him to tell exactly when I woke up, or he (as I suspected) never slept. _Come to think of it, _I thought, _DO heartless even sleep?_

Dismissing thoughts of such foolishness from my mind, I exited my house. Outside was parked my white Fenrir motorcycle, the same model as Cloud Strife's, but white instead of black. I had also added a few red splashes for visual effect.

I hopped onto my motorcycle, Nudge leaping up behind me and taking a firm grip on my belt. I vividly remembered the first time Nudge had ridden with me; he had forgotten to hang on, and had ended up flying off of the bike on a sharp turn.

I shuddered to think of anything happening to my friend. He was like a combination little brother and puppy.

I raced through the streets of the slowly awakening town. There was work to be done, heartless to kill, and people to save.

A blur of darkness to the left caught my eye. _Heartless?_ I wondered. Ever since we had killed Xemnas, the heartless had been more subdued. Maleficent hadn't yet begun her next play for power, so I didn't have to worry about her yet.

I let go of the handlebars with my right hand. Steering with my left. In my right hand I summoned my sword Soul Eater. I could also use a Keyblade, but I still wasn't used to handling the larger weapon with one hand while still driving a motorcycle; so I kept to the smaller bat-winged sword of darkness.

I had always wondered why I had the power of darkness. Sure, it was strong, but wasn't darkness supposed to be evil, and Light was supposed to be good? So why give me the power of darkness if I was one of the good guys?

Of course, I still did have my recently budding light powers… but they were nowhere near as reliable as my darkness powers. No matter how hard I tried to use the light, it seemed only to manifest when I was about to die… which had happened quite a few times in the past year.

I maneuvered the bike into a sideways slide. I saw a brief glance of a pair of glowing yellow eyes, and a pair of antenna. I lashed out, and my sword sliced through the Soldier Heartless, causing it to dissipate into black smoke. _Damn Neoshadows._

I thought back to my previous experiences. There were many inconsistencies with the game and the real thing. The element affinities, for instance. According to the video game, using an element against someone with an affinity for that element only made them stronger. However, I and the dark lord Johnson had engaged in a battle of darkness in the Endless Abyss, and I had killed him with darkness. I killed heartless with the darkness. My friend, C, had beaten Demyx with water.

I put such thoughts out of my mind. We had long since realized that nothing would be exactly as it had been in the game. Nobodies _did_ feel some emotions, it was just very hard to detect them. Sometimes, a person who was becoming a heartless would remember things about themselves (Like Sora did in Hollow bastion when he became a heartless), and they wouldn't be like the rest. The progenitor of the Heartless was the Universed, but the progenitors of the light and darkness that created the Universed were beings known as Inquisitors. There once were beings of pure light, the opposite of heartless and Universed, known as Harbingers. Ansem/Xehanort's Heartless had turned to the good side.

I resumed driving, and eventually wound up in the center of Hollow Bastion, in the Headquarters of the Guardians of Hollow Bastion.

The other Guardians, Cid, Merlin, Leon, Aerith, Tifa, and Cloud (Yuffie as well, but it was her day off).

"Hey guys!" I said. "How's everything?"

"You're late." Merlin grumped.

"Sorry. Ran into some Heartless on the way in. Had to take them out." I apologized.

"This isn't the time to discuss that." Leon said. His face was grim. "We have something on our long range scanners. It just appeared an hour ago. You should have a look."

"Show me." I said. Leon tapped at the big computer, and a scene appeared on the moniter screen.

It was a large, oscillating vortex in the middle of Gummi space. The vortex was white, with traces of purple darkness inside it. At the center, was a rotating flat diamond shaped _thing_. The Diamond shifter through smoke.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It looks like a portal." Another voice said. Everyone visibly jumped. I turned around quickly, my Keyblade appearing in my hands.

"You sure are jumpy." The short figure laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Chris Talonflight: Invasion

"King!" I said happily. Whatever this new thing was, I felt a lot more confident with the king on our side.

"Well you certainly don't seem too happy to see _me._" Another voice chimed in. It seemed to be chuckling, but I could see no one there!

"Who's there?" I asked. I looked around, scanning for any movement. _There. By the weapons rack._

A pile of swords suddenly lifted, and vanished. Standing there, chuckling, was my old friend: David Frostmourne, the King's Eye. He was the personal agent of the king, sent on missions that were deemed mostly suicidal simply because he was the only one who could be trusted to actually finish an impossible mission. He had a talent fort doing the impossible.

When I had first met Frostmourne, he wasn't a Keyblade wielder; however, during the war with Organization XIII he had gained a Keyblade that could manipulate other people's weapons. I was still uncertain as to its name; sometimes he referred to it as Weaponsmaster, other times as Penitent Tangent. I guessed that he couldn't decide.

Frostmourne still contained a tiny bit of darkness inside him, but he was master of it. HE had selflessly taken on being possessed by an Inquisitor to save me, and he had mastered the Inquisitor.

"That just looks… odd." Frostmourne commented, referring to the view on the screen.

The King gasped.

"What is it?" Aerith asked.

The King didn't speak for a moment. Then he started talking rapidly.

"We never knew what happened to it! We thought it had been destroyed! We didn't know!" his eyes shone with something akin to fear.

"Whoa." Tifa said. "Slow down. What are you talking about?"

Frostmourne, however, seemed to know what the king was talking about. "You mean… the Originator?"

"That's what it appears to be." The king said, ignoring Tifa. He immediately flipped out a cell phone and tossed it to Frostmourne. "Call up the Gummi fighters. If that thing is what it appears to be-"

"It _would _be nice if you told the rest of us what's going on." I said, rather sharply.

"Sorry." Frostmourne said, dialing, "One moment." He began a conversation with someone on the other end.

"The Originator is an artifact of Insomnion." The King said gravely.

"Huh?" Leon, Aerith, Cloud, and Tifa all said. Cid merely got a quizzical look on his face.

The king sighed. I knew what was coming, after hearing the story before, but it was an epic story all the same.

"Way back, just before the Cataclysm, when the worlds were created, far before the waves of effect of the Cataclysm reached the worlds that you guys used to live on, I was a warrior in the army of Fantasy."

"Wait." Tifa groped for answers. "What do you mean, before the wave of effect hit the Final Fantasy worlds?"

"The Cataclysm happened like a wave. It didn't all happen at once." He explained. "You see, back then, the three worlds: Fantasy, Reality/Earth, and Insomnion, were at war. You must understand this was farther back in time then anyone can remember: over nine hundred thousand years ago."

"Then how do you remember it?" Leon asked, standing up in impatience.

"I will get to that in a minute." He said, his patience waning. "Anyway, I was a general in the army of Fantasy. Yen Sid was First Wizard of the world. Anyway, the fighting was mostly between Reality and Fantasy. Insomnion stayed out of most of the battles, but destroyed anyone who entered their area. So one day I was summoned to the chambers of Yen Sid. It was there that we first discovered darkness (Note that the darkness before the Cataclysm was different then the darkness now). It was originally engineered by Insomnion, to wipe out the worlds that were merely engaging in pointless war, and had been for time unmemorable. It was originally envisioned as a controlled, volatile, deadly version of the previous darkness, which was not nearly as dangerous. However, it was not meant to be."

The king paused, and then went on. "Their darkness generating technology went awry, and gave this darkness a consciousness, a form, a singular focal point: the ruler of Insomnion. Their new darkness found its way to Fantasy. The High Wizards that made up the counsel of the First Wizard were divided as to what we should do: one said that we should keep fighting the darkness; another said that we should surrender, that we couldn't possibly win; the final member, named Wizard Johnson, thought that we should harness this power for ourselves. Seeing that we could not hope for a united effort against the darkness as long as the wizards were divided, Yen Sid summoned me. He sent me with two others: a warrior from Reality, named John, also known as Master Chief SPARTAN-117; and a sorceress of light known as Sera Lightbridge, in an effort to infiltrate Insomnion, and destroy this darkness.

"When we arrived on Insomnion, we found that it was totally infected with darkness. We managed to get into the royal palace Insomnia. There we found the king of Insomnion: Tenser Vhal. He had been totally possessed by the darkness, and was insane. He summoned the very first beings of darkness: the Inquisitors; in fact, by the time we reached the king of Insomnion, he was an Inquisitor himself.

"Tenser Vhal defeated us in battle; we were cast into the darkness, drifting between worlds. However, in Fantasy, Yen Sid managed to save us. We found that darkness was about to overcome Reality, and that a small portion of Fantasy was all that remained free of darkness: a place where Yen Sid and two other wizards were defending. Wizard Johnson had given into the darkness, and become the driving force in the darkness's efforts to control Fantasy. All seemed lost.

"But there was one last hope. At the last stand, my Keyblade, the only one of its kind left, was inundated with the power of light, and became the first of the Keyblades that we know today (Note that before this the few Keyblades were merely ceremonial weapons given to warriors of great skill). While I set out to battle Tenser Vhal, and Yen Sid went out to battle Johnson, Master Chief and Sera made the ultimate sacrifice. They combined their two life essences, and created a child. Into this child was placed both the power of the first, original darkness, and the power of light. This child's power and purity managed to drive back the new darkness, and send it into a hidden place, where it would be trapped.

"However, one last segment of darkness remained: while Johnson had been sent into the Realm of Darkness, Tenser Vhal had eluded me. He then summoned all of the escaped darkness, and became what we came to call a High Inquisitor. He rampaged to our world, fully intent on destroying us. However, Yen Sid and I were waiting. We battled him. In the end, he was destroyed, and the main threat was vanquished.

"Unfortunately, it was not over yet. The child that Master Chief and Sera had given their lives to birth had not been able to restore the areas that were already taken over by darkness: he could only prevent the darkness from destroying the remaining area. So we were left with only a castle surrounded by darkness, inhabited by only Yen Sid and myself, and the child. In a last, desperate effort to save the universe, Yen Sid and I took on the power of Light itself, and we shattered space and time.

"The darkness was beaten back, and became what is now known as the World of Darkness. The area which the castle that Yen Sid and myself were staying in became the world of Disney Castle. The areas which had been desert became Agrabah. The areas which had once been oceans became Atlantica. The areas of which had been Reality re-assembled themselves, because they were not made of magic in the first place, and thus had some natural resistance to the forces of fantasy (try using you power on Fantasy; you'll find its far less powerful then it is here), and so could reconstruct themselves. But Fantasy was shattered permanently, and became the worlds which we know today. We placed a veil between Reality and the worlds of Fantasy. People reappeared in both worlds, as if nothing had happened. Only Yen Sid, I, and the Child knew what had happened. We did not want to live in a world where people would consider us their creators, or their gods, because we really were neither. So we placed ourselves into a magical sleep, which preserved us until countless years had passed. The child as well.

"The shattering we had initiated spread outward like a ripple in a pond. After it had finished with Fantasy and Reality, it sped outwards until it had hit the worlds of Final Fantasy, and melded them into one world. It took it a very long time to get there, the entire time we were asleep: that's why the people you know from their world still remember the Cataclysm.

"I, the child, and Yen Sid woke up in this time. Into the child, we injected the genes of every single warrior in the history of the worlds. We named the child David Frostmourne."

Everyone glanced at Frostmourne. He showed no reaction. Evidently he had heard that story before, and had come to terms with it.

"We never did know what happened to Insomnion." Frostmourne mused. Suddenly, he pointed to the screen. "Look!"

"Incoming!" Cid yelled, as several white spheres shot from the diamond.

"Launch a sensor probe." Leon said coolly.

A small sensor pod in the area blasted off, rocketing towards the spheres. We all watched anxiously.

"They aren't energy blasts, or even apparently shots from any type of weapon. They seem… Alive!" Cid said, watching the screen and comparing it with the data that was incoming from the probe.

"It's made of pure light?" Cloud asked

"It seems to be pure light surrounding a small pod-like object, about the size of a small Gummi ship." Cid said.

"Could they be Insomnion fighters?" I asked. "Like you said, you never knew what happened to Insomnion.

"There appears to be a structure like a space station in orbit around the vortex." Cid said, his fingers dashing across the board. "Let me see if I can…"

The photo zoomed in, and we all saw what appeared to be a shipyard, and a military space station.

"My god…" the King breathed. "The Endar Spire."

"What?" I asked.

"There was a large Insomnion space station that orbited the planet of Insomnion." The King explained. "I was captured and brought there at one point. It was named the Endar Spire. And that Space station is-"

"-The Endar Spire." Frostmourne finished.

A smaller ball of light shot from the Insomnion space station, slamming into the sensor. The screen went blank.

"I guess that's that." I sighed.

"Our Gummi fighters are inbound." Frostmourne said. "Should we send support?"

"There are only fifteen of them." The Cloud pointed out. "How many Gummi fighters did you call in?"

The king looked at Cloud. "Back in the war, the Insomnions ruled space combat. Every one of their fighters could kill three piloted by us." He hesitated. "I called in around twenty."

"I'm going up." Frostmourne said.

"What?" the king said. "You can't! We'll need your Keyblade for the surface battle if they break through and attack the city!"

"If we can stop them in space, then there won't _be_ a surface battle." Frostmourne said.

"We don't have the numbers to stop seven elite fighters, much less seventeen!" the king yelled.

"Then why the hell did you make me call in the fighters?" Frostmourne yelled back. "Those are good people out there that are about to get massacred!"

"We need time." The King looked away. "Time to prepare the city's defenses."

"So you would sacrifice your men for _time?_" Frostmourne yelled.

"It's the only way!" the King yelled. "Would you rather have this entire world be destroyed?"

"Actually…" I said, nodding to Nudge. "I have a better idea…"

"What?" Leon asked suspiciously.

"Call off the fighters." I told Frostmourne. I tossed Nudge my phone, the one that worked across worlds. "Call in Ansem. Tell him to bring the rain."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Chris Talonflight: Crimson Skies

I sped upwards through Gummi Space, leaving Hollow Bastion behind me, piloting Frostmourne's custom black Gummi Fighter. He insisted that if I was going, I had to take the best Gummi fighter they had. Frostmourne's fighter had wings with a razor edge for slicing through enemy barricades, advanced light cannons, mine dropping, advanced shielding, ethereal missile launchers, and good old fashioned mixed darkness-light turret mounted on top. Nudge manned the guns.

I looked at what I was wearing: a dark green set of high-tech armor. It had belonged to Frostmourne's father, John-117, the SPARTAN. It gave me the chills, thinking that I was wearing real-life Halo armor.

**(Cue song "Earth Invasion" by Skillet) **I quickly sent out a call to my forces. Twenty ships rounded above my location, waiting merely for my arrival.

"Glad you could make it." A voice sounded in my ear.

"Ansem." I smirked. "Glad you got here this fast."

"For a good friend, anything." The Heartless master's grin was evident in his voice. I didn't know what had happened to him before I found him, but for some reason he was content with himself now, and regarded me as a friend, and not like the psychopath he once was: Xehanort.

_"Eagle Formation." I thought. "Stay tight, and don't let them in on our flanks."_

The Heartless were coming. For the Insomnions, that is.

And Ansem and I were their commanders.

_"Open Fire!" I thought._ The Heartless fighters blasted with beams of darkness.

The Insomnion fighters broke formation, flying out in a flanking maneuver.

"Cover me!" Ansem said. He wasn't even riding a Gummi Ship: he was riding his Guardian Heartless, throwing balls of dark energy from his fists. His blasts hit an Insomnion craft, and while I watched the Guardian heartless leaped from under him, and tore the ship of light to shreds. The Insomnions were down to sixteen.

_Boy, wouldn't an Ansem vs. Ganondorf battle be cool._ I thought, while firing my light cannons at the Insomnions.

There. I saw it. The lead Insomnion ship had a small indentation on its front. I fired my light cannons, and the blasts of light slammed into one of the crafts. The craft shuddered and froze in mid-space, but didn't break up. Gritting my teeth, I fired a proton missile. When the projectile slammed into the craft, the craft slowly disintegrated. Now they were down to fifteen.

"Break formation, but try to keep each other covered." I said. The Heartless fanned out, engaging in twenty different individual battles.

_Heartless don't really work together._ I thought to myself. _Only Ansem and Nudge, plus Delorian and Trufflehunter._

The Heartless were firing upon the Insomnions, but the Insomnions were far more maneuverable. Six of my heartless were already down, bringing our total down to fourteen.

"Ansem, can you summon any more heartless?" I asked, narrowly avoiding a light-ball.

"I'm trying." He said. Glancing out of my cockpit, I saw that he was gritting his teeth. "Something is oppressing my summoning ability. I sent out a call signal but… I don't know how many will come."

"Enough will come." I gritted my teeth, barely dodging a blast from an Insomnion fighter. Only five of them remained now, but our Heartless forces were reduced to only Ansem, I, and a single remaining Heartless fighter.

"We're in trouble." I said, radioing the King. "I'm sorry. It seemed like a good plan at first, but… I'm sorry."

"Chris, my sensors are reading another force approaching from the direction of Disney Castle." Ansem informed.

"It's our own fighters." The King said. "Chris, you have to survive until they get there. Their about three minutes away. Hold on."

I threw myself into a barrel roll to avoid a flying sphere of light. The Insomnion fighter was on my tail, launching sphere after sphere from its round form.

"ETA two minutes." The King informed.

"Don't these guys ever quit?" I yelled. I hit a button, and a group of mines dropped from the back of my craft. The Insomnion slammed right into them, the sphere of light that covered the fighter dissipating. As I watched, I saw a craft that looked like a white Heartless fighter break apart in it. Inside, I caught a nanosecond glimpse of a strange creature. It was too fast for me to really see it, but I could have sworn that it was made up of pure light. Then the fighter vanished in a blaze of light.

"ETA one minute." The King urged.

The remaining Heartless fighter was destroyed. Ansem and I faced four Insomnion fighters.

"Wait… What's that?" I asked.

Frostmourne nearly shouted into the intercom. "That's our old Gummi Ship!"

Indeed it was. Its light weapons blazed, and its two droid mini-ships opened fire with missiles, the barrage cut between the Insomnions and I.

"ETA thirty seconds!" The King said.

A pair of Insomnions double-teamed the new arrival. However, I quickly accelerated to full throttle. I flew straight at the first fighter.

The razor edges of my wings slashed through the fighter.

"Gauss cannon… fire!" a new voice said on the intercom. A trio of pure light blasts ripped through the remaining fighter.

"ETA ten seconds." The king spoke, but I barely heard him.

"No… it can't be…" I breathed, a smile crossing my face.

"Who is this?" the female voice asked.

"Ash?" I asked.

"Chris." Ashley Lightbringer spoke coldly. "What the hell are you doing here?"

At that instant a large group of Gummi fighters appeared from behind Hollow Bastion's moon. The King's fighters had appeared right after the battle finished. I felt that was ironic.

At that moment, a group of three heartless fighters appeared around Ansem.

"All units form up in Diamond Formation." I spoke. "King, I'm going in."

"You're invading the Endar Spire?" he asked.

"Affirmative." I responded. "Any tips?"

"Stay alive." He said. "Ashley is with you?"

"Yeah." I said. "Good luck."

"Be careful." A new voice said.

"Yuffie." I closed my eyes, and wished that I could have at least said goodbye to her.

I opened the throttle. "All Gummi ships follow me.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Chris Talonflight: Endar Spire

My ship landed on the docking bay with the rest of the Gummi force. I quickly shed the bulky SPARTAN armor, and clipped on my armored sleeve.

"Ready?" I asked Nudge. He nodded. I opened the cockpit, and stepped out.

A girl stood there, a woman. The last time I had seen Ashley, she had been really, really short. Now she was only a little shorter then me. Also, before, she had been a slightly shy girl, still acting like she was an adolescent. Now, just over a year later, she was wearing black and white battle armor under a dark purple leather jacket. Her face was obscured by what looked like a motorcycle helmet.

"Hey Ashley." I said. "Where have you been? We haven't heard from you since we defeated Xemnas-"

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked rudely.

I was shocked. _She didn't used to talk like that…_ _Nor was she so rude._

"Ash, it's me, Chris." I tried again. "What's wrong?"

"What the fuck do you care?" she said, not even looking at me. "Going to give me another stupid ass lecture on light and darkness?"

"You didn't used to curse this much." I commented. "New Habit?"

"Shut the fuck up, bastard." She spat. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Did I do something to you that I'm unaware of?" I asked.

"You existed." She said. "Now why the hell are you here?"

"I'm defending Hollow Bastion." I said. "Now why are _you_ here?"

"None of your damn business." She said.

"It's my damn business because you just landed among _my_ troops." I said, folding my arms. I saw a hint of a smirk through the tinted visor of her helmet.

"I could take them." She whispered.

"But can you take me?" I arched an eyebrow. "Remember what happened last time?"

**Flashback:**

_We clashed; her Lurebreaker against my Soul Eater. Ashley pushed me back a few feet, before I did a back flip behind me. I landed, and fired a weak bolt of dark energy at her. She dodged it, and began firing blasts at me from her Keyblade. I used the darkness to propel me through midair in a gliding move. Then I called on Nudge to throw me towards Ashley. My ally did as required, as well as conjuring a dark shield around me when I landed behind Ashley. Ashley was distracted with fending off Nudge, and I took the opportunity to kick her down. However, Ashley then summoned a circle of light around her, knocking Nudge into a wall, where he became entangled in a pile of chairs. I then engaged her in a slashing duel for a few moments. Then, when I again locked blades with her, I summoned a storm of black electricity. The storm slammed into Ashley, sending her flying. _

"_Not a scratch!" _

_Ashley had deflected the brunt of the attack with a storm of meteors! I growled. "She learns fast, when she actually STARTS learning. She didn't practice at all until we started this trip; unlike me, who started earlier back in Traverse Town." I thought. _

_Nudge ran up to me and hopped on my shoulders. He swayed for a moment, and then seemed to fuse with me, putting me into my dark form. I summoned the second Soul-Eater, and faced off with Ashley again. Ashley charged me. Bad move. I deflected her Keyblade with my two Soul Eaters. I launched myself into a karate kick, which missed, but I used my momentum to rebound off the wall and slam into the ground, creating a dark shockwave. The shockwave slammed into Ashley, who recovered quickly, and fired a blast at me with her Keyblade, knocking me from my feet. I rolled, and came up on Ashley's left. I then sank into the ground, like a shadow heartless, and dashed around Ashley. The wall of darkness I inscribed around her stayed there after I surfaced. Then I made the trap close in on her. However, when the wall exploded, Ashley stood there, having used a cure Materia at the last second. In anger, I slammed my swords together, and called on the power of Last Chaos, the dark Keyblade. I flew at her. She tried to block my strike, but my animal strength broke his block, and pushed her back. She dodged and ran. I pursued. I had a strange sense of déjà vu. I made a fist, and Ashley was entrapped in a fist of darkness._

_ "Give up?" I asked, putting Last Chaos to her throat. It was the first time I had gone darkness form since Traverse Town, and I didn't enjoy it. But it was the only way to win._

**End Flashback.**

__I saw Ashley grimace at the memory, before smirking again.

"Actually, I'm fairly sure I could." She said.

"Whatever. I'm not here to get into a battle with you." I waved my hand. "We're going to crash this station, and then we'll investigate the vortex."

"Well, good for you." She said sarcastically. "Just don't get in my way."

"What happened to you?" I asked quietly. "You weren't always this way. Why are you being like this?"

She flipped me the finger, and walked away.

I frowned. I pointed to a pair of soldiers. "You two, with her. Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. The rest of you, with me." The pair of soldiers looked like humans, but I couldn't tell, since they were wearing helmets.

"What, I don't get a command too?" another familiar voice chimed in. I grinned, and turned to clasp hands with Delorian Nappi, also known as Nexus, Ansem's apprentice in the powers of darkness. Delorian had been turned into a heartless, but had eventually risen to a rank high enough to allow him to take on human form. I had eventually broken the hold the darkness had on him, and he once again had become my friend. He now wielded some dark powers, (Not nearly as strong as me and Nudge, but fairly nice himself), as well as his signature illusions, smoke, and glass. He had glass blades that extended from his wrists, making him look like Baraka from Mortal Kombat, or Deadpool/Weapon XI from that X-Men Wolverine Origins movie.

"Big D." I said. "You split these thirteen soldiers as well as the heartless with Ansem, and proceed to the Galactic West of the base. Ansem, you go through the Galactic East." I sighed, and motioned to the remaining soldiers. "You, you, and you, with me. You four guard our ships. Move out."

"What are your names?" I asked the three soldiers who were walking with me.

"Scorch." The one with yellow armor spoke cheerfully.

"Fixer." The one with the green armor said.

"Sev." The one with red armor growled. **(Their names are my tribute to Star Wars: Republic Commando)**

"Chris Talonflight." I responded.

We walked quietly through the gray corridors. In a way, it reminded me of a discolored Castle That Never Was.

Suddenly, a shadow burst into brightness with sudden speed. I saw a creature, like a Neoshadow without antennae and with blades coming out of the backs of its elbows, and made up of pure blinding white light. Also, it had a scorpion tail.

My Keyblade was in my hands; I didn't waste time summoning my Soul Eaters: this had to be dealt with, and the strongest one there was me. I swung.

My Keyblade smoked black as it passed through the creature of light. I pointed the video feed on my headset towards the downed creature.

"Any idea what that is?" I asked.

"Harbinger, type C." the King spoke.

"C?" I asked.

"Harbingers are arranged from A to D." the King explained. "C class is just over usual strength for a Harbinger. Nice work."

"It was like a Neoshadow." I commented.

"Unlike Heartless," The King explained, "The Harbingers don't create their rank and file from hearts. They must build one another from the light, mimicking the forms of Pureblood heartless. A type D is like a Shadow Heartless, a type C is like a Neoshadow, a type B is like a Guardian Heartless (That thing that Ansem has following him). Only a type A Harbinger is made from another person."

"So why are there Harbingers here?" I asked. "I mean, if their minions of light, then shouldn't they be on our side?"

The King hesitated before answering. "The Harbingers were created specifically to battle the Inquisitors, just as the Keyblade masters were created to battle the darkness, and the light was created to keep the darkness at bay. However, it takes an A-Class Harbinger to control them, known as a Lord Harbinger. They are the opposite of High Inquisitors."

"So someone became a Lord Harbinger, and is using the Harbingers to attack Hollow Bastion." I concluded.

"You have to find the A-Class Harbinger, Chris." The King spoke. "If you kill him, the Harbingers will be leaderless, and won't attack us."

"Wait a second." I interrupted. "You said the Lord Harbingers are like High Inquisitors, but with Light not Darkness." I sighed. "How am I supposed to stop one?"

"You killed Johnson, the High Inquisitor." The King pointed out. "And you have Ashley with you now."

"I don't think…" I paused. "I don't think she's with me, exactly." I related what she had said to the king.

The King sighed. "If only we knew where she was this past year… we might be able to find out what's going on here."

"Regardless, I'm going to try." I said. "All units: eliminate all Harbingers on the ship. Search for a human crew. When you find them, call for me."

"Roger that." My units said, marching on.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Ashley Lightbringer: Harbinger

I lashed out with my Keyblade. Lurebreaker severed a Harbinger arm, and then swept back as it decapitated my foe.

I rose from my low stance, relaxing slightly. The area around me was littered with dead Harbingers. Most were D class. D class Harbingers were known as Sparks; C class was known as Neosparks. B class was known as Sentinels. A class Harbingers were known as… Well, I would find out.

While the majority of the dead group of Harbingers was Sparks, there were a scattering of Neosparks as well.

I dismissed my Keyblade, walking down the gray corridor. The pair of soldiers that Chris had sent after me was the first to die from my Keyblade. Their bodies were farther down the hallway; one of them rent open by a Spark Harbinger… the other with a sword wound in his chest.

I breathed slowly. It was exhilarating. They feared me. All the Harbingers feared me. I guessed that, being minions of light, they had never faced one who used light against them. Now I was here, and my light powers wrecked havoc upon the Harbingers.

I saw a pair of Neosparks running towards me. I didn't even bother summoning my Keyblade. After years fighting the heartless and the nobodies, one more enemy didn't faze me. I merely reached out my hand.

A ray of light shot from my hand, piercing the first Harbinger. It slowly began to shrink. A small vortex appeared around my hand. Then the Harbinger vanished, and the light ray shot back into my hand. I had just drained the light essence of the Harbinger, taking its power into myself.

_I can't believe Chris decides to show up here, of all places!_ I fumed. _After what he did… he should be ashamed!_

**Flashback**

"_Heroes from the realm of light." Xemnas said. "I will not allow it to end this way; not yet."_

_ "Isn't that obvious? I mean, this IS the Final Battle for a reason, you know." Chris pointed out._

_ "If light and darkness are eternal," Xemnas continued, "then surely we nothings must be the same!"_

_ "Your right." Frostmourne said. "Light and darkness are eternal. But guess what, Xemnas… THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU'RE ETERNAL."_

_ "Why do you despise me? I am merely a nobody who wishes for his heart back." Xemnas asked._

_ "That's simple." Chris pointed his Keyblade at Xemnas. "You mess up our worlds. Now die."_

**End Flashback**

_Chris destroyed the hopes and dreams of thirteen people that day: the hope that they could actually get their hearts back_. I thought. _It wasn't right to wipe them out. Xemnas may have been Xehanort once, but he wasn't Xehanort any more. He merely wanted a heart. He wasn't evil._

I continued walking. I had seen that portion of his memories in Castle Oblivion, while visiting Xanju. Disgusted, I had walked out on Xanju. For some strange reason, he was taking Chris's side in this! I spat on the dead body of a fading Harbinger.

I raised my Keyblade. I had spent the last year perfecting my light powers, and this would be the moment of truth.

I would face the A-Class Harbinger, and kill him.

A few hallways and many dead Harbinger's later, I entered a room which looked disturbingly like a mix between the Hall of Empty Melodies and the Station of Awakening. However, it wasn't nearly as dark as the abyss in which the Station was suspended: instead, the room's walls were pure white, and you could look up and see all the way to the top of the station. It was a circle of black (or in stained glass terms, dark violet) stained glass suspended above a large pit. You couldn't see the bottom of the pit because there was a blinding light shining from the bottom if it. In essence, it was the reverse of the Station of Awakening: the Station was a circle of glowing stained glass suspended in a dark void: this was a circle of dark glass suspended in a white ray of light.

_You will need all of your skill to survive._

I started, warily, pulling off my helmet and allowing it to fall to the ground so that it didn't obscure my vision. This was the perfect place for an ambush. The voice had seemed to come from all directions at once. It sounded like a middle aged warrior, with a voice that resonated with a stern, kind, and easy flow.

I continued walking towards the center of the Reverse Station.

_Let go of your anger. Release your hate._ The voice said softly.

"Who are you?" I asked.

_See the truth that is hidden._ The voice said.

Suddenly, from the blinding light beneath me, a pair of figures appeared. They looked similar to Ansem's large Guardian Heartless, except that they were more human-shaped, and had glowing angel wings. Their faces were serene, not demonic. Strapped to their sides were golden Broadswords.

_B-Class Harbingers: Sentinels._ I thought with a grim smile.

"Where is the Lord Harbinger?" I asked. The Harbingers did not respond, except to unsheathe their weapons.

I hissed slightly between my teeth, summoning Lurebreaker. The first of the Sentinels charged.

I jumped over the Harbinger's swing, kicking it in the face as I came back down. The Harbinger stumbled before the weight of a second kick knocked it over. The edge of my Keyblade descended upon the downed Harbinger, only to be stopped in mid-swing. I looked up, furious, and saw that its companion had blocked the strike with its weapon.

_Well, this wouldn't have been any fun if they didn't put up a fight._ I smirked. I spun my blade out of the block, and came around in another swing, too fast for the Harbinger to get its sword in the right position.

My blade was again stopped. I was intrigued. The downed Harbinger had managed to get his sword into the way, to deflect the blow aimed for its companion. Why did they defend each other when my attack on the other left me open to a killing strike?

The two Harbingers pushed me back with a pair of in-sync slashes. I managed to block the pair of attacks, before unleashing a series of light-column attacks. The columns of light flew towards the Harbingers, knocking them back. I leapt into the air, drawing in power from the surrounding glow. Then I released it all around me in a large shockwave. The shockwave slammed into the pair of Sentinels.

One of the Sentinels flapped its large wings, and launched itself into the air. I was still in the process of falling from my leap into the air, so I propelled myself farther into the aura of light with a blast of light aimed at the floor. I flew upward, propelled by the blast of light.

The Harbinger and I collided in midair. I grabbed his wing, trying to wrench it from its socket, dislocate it, break it, anything. The Wing thrashed as I twisted it to and fro, the Harbinger making pained noises.

Finally, frustrated with my futile attempts to injure it, I did the only thing that I could: I bit it's wing right on the joint.

The light that made up the Harbinger suddenly burst from its form, leaking in all directions. Then it spiraled back in, filling my mouth where my teeth clenched on the wing. The Sentinel Harbinger thrashed wildly, desperately. In an effort to continue my attack, I forced myself to swallow.

The light in my mouth tasted… incredible. Like drinking life itself. If there was a way that one could drink pure pleasure, strength, vitality, endurance, and life, it was what I had just done.

I pushed away from the Harbinger. I was stunned at the changes in the being: its outer skin of light was stripped away: now, it was less then half the size it once was. It looked like a skeleton. As I watched, its eyes glowed for an instant with terror, and then even that faded away as the last vestige of light swirled into my mouth. I was like a vampire, a leech, a force that could drain away their very life.

I landed on suddenly graceful feet. I turned to see the last Sentinel crouched on the ground, letting out a keening wail. I grinned, a few errant droplets of liquid light dripping from my mouth. My canine's (you know, the teeth that turn into fangs for vampires) felt long, for some reason. I grinned like a feral animal at the remaining Harbinger. The Sentinel Harbinger suddenly reached down, and…

…kneeled before me.

A figure suddenly shimmered into appearance before me.

"Why do you insist on this futile effort?" the figure intoned. It seemed like a human, but its voice was far more musical, almost a song. Its face was a pale silver, and its hair was a bright red, like blood and fire. Its eyes were slitted green. All in all, he was the most beautiful man I had ever seen.

"Who are you?" I asked.

The man merely smiled, raising his hand to the level of his face, palm facing his face. It started glowing with light. Then, a blade grew from his arm, Baraka-style. The blade flickered as pure light, then faded away.

"A thousand Keyblade wielders died cursing the name of Marl Brood." The man spoke like a harmony. "Shall I add you to their number?"

Suddenly, he changed. Standing where Marl had been was Chris.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Ashley Lightbringer: Revelation

"What-" I started. Suddenly, Chris charged me, flinging me across the room.

"Fool." He said. The image of Chris fell, and I realized it was an illusion.

I growled, summoning my Keyblade. "I drained you guards of life, and I shall absorb you too!"

"Will you?" Marl asked. "Perhaps. But I control your fear." He shifted again, and in an instant it wasn't his standing there again, but Chris.

"You fear him." He stated.

"Shut up!" I shouted. "I'm not scared of him!"

Chris stood ready for combat, and I threw my Keyblade in a spinning motion. Chris was thrown backwards.

"TAKE THAT!" I shouted. Chris then tried to slice at me, but I turned and moved out of the way. Chris went to my new position and tried to attack again, but I jumped into the air. Chris looked up, only to see me come down at him from directly above, spinning my Keyblade as I did so in a sawing motion. Chris was blasted backwards, but he spun in mid-air and regained balance.

"You fear that he has become more powerful then you." Chris/Marl said. "He controls the Heartless."

"Who cares?" I yelled. "He wields darkness!"

Chris, injured from the attack, cast a Cure spell on himself as I ran towards him again; I flew right behind Chris and tried to do my first, spinning circle blade attack. Chris, however, countered and began unleashing his own combination attack on me, sending me into the air as I attempted to block. Chris continued with his combo attacks, hitting my Keyblade mercilessly, until I managed to counter with my aerial spin blade attack. Chris dodged the attack, but his cheek dripped blood from getting sliced a tiny bit. Chris spun back upwards and tried to attack me, but I turned into another illusion, came behind Chris, jumped upwards, and dashed downwards with my spinning blade attack.

Our weapons clashed in the center of the station, with neither one of us giving in.

"Darkness is evil." Marl said. "Can you not see that it must be eradicated?"

"Of course evil must be destroyed!" I said. "Why are you telling me this?"

"You fight on the side of one who is evil and of the dark." He smirked, pushing me back. "You could be so much more if you devoted yourself to eradicating the darkness, rather then aiding it."

"What do you mean?" I said, suspicious.

"A thousand Keyblade bearers have proven themselves unworthy of the Keyblade. Xehanort was one. Ventus was one. Terra was one. Riku was one. Sora was one. Ansem the Wise was one. Even Yen Sid was one. All because they were not willing to do what was necessary to destroy darkness. Only you king ever paid the full cost."

"And what is the cost of destroying the darkness?" I said, my eyes narrowing.

"You have heard the story that the king told: that he used the power of light to shatter the world." Marl said, as he launched into a combo attack. "But that wasn't the whole story. When he used its power, he didn't use nearly all the power that he was able to access: the king, you may know, is far too weak of mind and heart to use the light to it's fullest potential. Had the king used the light to its fullest potential, he could have eradicated this existence entirely… and created a new one in its place."

"And why the hell would I destroy the universe?" I asked.

The man smiled. "Think. As long as people have hearts, they will be composed of both light and darkness, one usually stronger then the other. When the darkness is stronger, a heartless is eventually formed, or another minion of darkness, like a dark Keyblade wielder. When the light is dominant enough, one is able to use light magic. When the light is completely dominant, one gains a Keyblade. You get the picture." He sighed. "So as long as people have hearts, there will always be darkness and light both." He suddenly stopped fighting, merely standing there, speaking earnestly. "So the only way to destroy the darkness is to destroy all the hearts in the world."

"Sounds… drastic… and psychotic." I commented.

"But think!" he pleaded. "This one you know, Chris. He claims to serve the light, but he wields darkness. And he killed a group of people who merely wanted to have their hearts back. If you wish to call someone evil, label HIM as evil."

I snorted. "Thanks for reminding me: I have to think up a suitable punishment for him."

"Imagine: once all hearts are destroyed, imagine replacing them with pure light, with utter goodness." Marl said. "You could do anything! And _no more darkness!_ Think! It would be a perfect world."

"And how could anyone do that?" I asked.

"With the one entity that cannot ever be truly destroyed: Kingdom Hearts."

I hesitated for a fraction of a second.

"Your right." I said. I lowered my weapon.

Marl Brood smiled.

"But you won't be the one to do it." I finished.

Marl twitched. He looked down, and saw the tip of the Sentinel Harbinger's broadsword protruding from his stomach.

I looked down at the stained glass floor of the Station. On it was a picture of Marl Brood.

I smirked, and bit Marl Brood.

Instantly, a huge wave of light shot from him. It swirled into a vortex around me. It enveloped me in its wave until I couldn't see. It flowed through my every vein and entered me through my every pore.

When the glow cleared, I looked down again.

Where the picture of Marl Brood had been on the floor of the Reverse Station, there was a picture of me.

I sent out a mental wave. All the Harbingers opened Portals of Light and vanished.

I smirked.

I had a lot of work to do.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Chris Talonflight: Fear

I stood back at the base on Hollow Bastion. Yuffie was furious with me. She was angry, not that I hadn't told her that I was going, not that I had gone up and nearly gotten myself killed, not that I was in mortal danger… but she was angry that she hadn't gotten a chance to go with me.

"It isn't fair!" she said. "You guys should have called me! I'm a Guardian, just like you. I could have done something!"

"Actually, Yuffie," Tifa said, trying to placate her friend, "we all ended up being pretty useless ourselves. Only Chris, Ansem, and Ashley ended up being useful-"

"That's not it!" she yelled. "I… It's hard to explain!" she suddenly wheeled and ran out, tears dripping. Leon started after her, but I shook my head. _I'll go,_ I mouthed. Leon nodded.

I caught up with Yuffie in the alley. I merely walked silently beside her, my arm around her, holding her as she cried. When the tears finally slowed, I started speaking.

"Yuffie… I know you sometimes feel as if we're excluding you, and I know that-" I started. Surprisingly, Yuffie cut me off.

"That's not it!" she said. "Its that _you_ were up there and _I _wasn't." she said. "I know that probably sounds terribly selfish, but I just can't help the feeling that I could have done something! You were nearly killed! I could have helped you!"

With a start, I realized that Yuffie wasn't mad about missing the battle: she was mad because she thought she could have protected me from nearly getting shot down by an Insomnion. She was worried for me. I had interpreted what she was saying all wrong.

"Yuffie…" I said carefully. "We live on the edge of death every second. We're Guardians, just like you pointed out. It's our job to battle anyone who threatens our world. Our own survival isn't guaranteed; in fact, we're in greater danger then we usually realize. When one lives on the edge of death… well, you have to live every day as if it's your last." I smirked. "After last night, I could have died any way in hell today, but because I had been with you, I could have faced it calmly and content. I love life, and if I died it sure would suck, but ever since we've been together I've felt more _alive_ then I ever have. I would love to stay with you forever, but if I die tomorrow… not that it would be for lack of trying to stay alive (since my death would suck for you too), but I would be content. I mean, look at what we've done: we've saved the worlds twice, found each other, and-"

"Chris." Yuffie interrupted me. "I get it. And in all honesty, I feel the same way." She paused. "_but can you imagine what it would do to me if you died and I was left behind?_"

I froze. _If I lost Yuffie, I would kill myself. So if I died and she survived…_

I immediately wrapped her in my arms. "I understand." I said. Yuffie clung to me with desperation.

"It's just that so many people in my life always die!" she wailed. I continued holding her, allowing her to let it out. "Vincent, Tidus, Bartz, Barret, Marlene, Denzel, even Johnson, although I'm not sad that _he_ left." She looked up to me, her violet eyes shining with tears of fear. "If you died…" she placed her hand on my cheek. "… If I lost you too…" her face was extremely close to mine. "… _I_ would die too."

Our faces were less then an inch apart in the darkened alley. I could smell her new perfume.

"Forever, Yuffie." I whispered. "I will always be here for you."

Our lips touched, and the entire world dissipated into the point where our lips made contact, a blinding pinpoint of acceptance, forgiveness, and understanding.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Rodney Castro:

I flicked a switch on the control panel in my Gummi ship. The landing gear deployed, and a green light winked on the HUD.

I thumbed the control for the microphone. "This is freight delivery Castro, I'm in."

A second voice crackled over the speakers. With all of Fantasy's technology and magic, they hadn't solved the problem of radio distortion.

"Coast is clear." The female voice said.

I stepped down the extending ramp, walking out into the hanger of the massive space station. I looked around at the glass walls, the hanger force field, and the glowing beings that went about their tasks. I sighed.

This was my seventh run for Ashley. I had been ferrying supplies and other equipment to her space station for a heavy fee.She still wouldn't tell me what she was doing here, or why the king had suddenly decided to cancel the destruction of the space station.

I stepped forwards to greet the approaching feminine figure. Ashley was wearing normal clothing: a white blouse and a skirt. Seeing her like this, I could remember those days back when everything seemed more simple: days before we had been sucked into the worlds of Kingdom Hearts.

I distinctly remembered that night. It was one of the few that had engraved itself into my mind, as a dreadful reminder of what the darkness could do.

**Flashback:**

Something moved in the night. I sat bolt upright and looked at the clock. _11:50 pm… I slept awhile. That or this is a dream. It sure feels like one._ I got up and looked out the window.

"Jesus Christ!" I yelled. Something black with yellow eyes had hurled itself at the window! I stumbled back, my hand reaching for the collectible broadsword and katana combination weapon that I had mounted over my bed. C darted into the room.

"Holy shit, Rodney, did you see outside?" he yelled. He was still holding his guitar.

"Get your things and be ready in the living room." Chris ordered, before dashing towards the stairs. I ran upstairs, thinking we had thieves in the house. Ashley wasn't there. I listened for any sound. I heard the latch to the roof opening and closing.

"Why is it always me…?" I muttered as I ran up the stairs and onto the roof. I saw Ashley standing there, staring out onto the street.

"Come back inside Ashley!" I called. "It isn't safe!" I looked up at the sky, and saw a vortex pattern appearing. I recognized it instantly. "Oh no… Oh no…"

I had seen that pattern in the sky in Kingdom Hearts, in the level in which Destiny Islands had been invaded by Heartless. Only here there were no Keyblades or powers, only us. And the Heartless.

C barged up onto the roof "What's happening?"

"Look" Chris said. On the ground, the little puddles of Darkness were appearing, with the two yellow orbs for eyes.

I merely nodded. "It looks like Ashley was right all along. We're all dead." I drew my weapon. Somehow, it all felt eerily detached. "Thing is, I'm not going down that easy." I wondered if I was entirely sane. Certainly I couldn't be this calm if I was about to be swallowed by darkness!

Chris nodded. "We can't just accept our fate and die". I was sure this was a dream. It had to be. That was the type of thing that was said in dreams, right?

I looked at my friends. "C, you got anything?"

"Only my guitar." He hefted it.

"Ash?" Chris asked. Then she turned and faced us with hollow eyes.

"It's happening. It's coming."

"Ash, snap out of it." C tapped her face.

"This world has been connected." She said slowly. "Tied to the darkness. It is here to kill us."

"Whatever we knew is gone now. It's up to us. Stop talking like Ansem. I mean, Xehanort's Heartless." Chris said while trying to wake her from her trance.

She snapped out of it. She grabbed a knife. _Jeez, this is a dangerous girl._ I thought. "I'm ready". She said.

"Let's go."

Suddenly, a Neoshadow leaped up to where they stood. It bowled Ashley down, knocked me out of the way, and headed for C.

_This is it. I want to wake up._ I thought. Chris launched himself into a karate kick. It connected, and he lashed out with the chain. The shadow disappeared. But then a large group of Neoshadows appeared around us. _What a sucky way to die in a dream._

Suddenly, a Shadow leaped towards them. It charged up a blast, and destroyed the group of Neoshadows in a volley of black lightning. Then it grabbed me and my friends, and we were engulfed in its teleportation move. _Hold on, even in a dream, Shadows aren't supposed to be able to do that… What the he- _was my last thought before blackness took me like a thief takes a poorly guarded jewel.

Down in the streets, people screamed as heartless made short work of the world that its inhabitants called Earth. People cried out, and people died. Then in a flash, the heart of the world was found, and six billion people were wiped out, and a planet was removed from existence. A singe white form shot from where the world used to be: the remains of a nobody. And a single corridor of darkness shot from it, leading to another world.

** End flashback.**

I sighed.

"I've been waiting for you, Rodney, but I didn't know if you were going to make it in time." Ashley said, smiling at me.

"You know me." I grunted. "I may not be on time, but I always get there eventually."

Ashley laughed. Her voice was like the sound of water flowing over rocks, soothing.

"How long do you have until your next run?" Ashley asked.

"Nothing until next week." I answered. "I heard your station was giving you problems, so I decided to clear my schedule in order to help out."

Ashley's face softened. "Thanks for your concern."

"Its no problem." I smiled, then stopped at the feeling of , my robotic eye pushing against the skin of my face. My entire left side was robotic, held together by a blend of technology and magic.

"Come this way." Ashley said after a moment's hesitation. "There's something I think you should see."

She walked down the hallway, I following her. I was amazed to see the incredible symmetry of this place to Castle Oblivion, and the Castle that Never Was. It was almost as if they were triplets…

"This is it." she said. She placed a small card up against a large white doorway, similar to the cards that were used in Castle Oblivion. Suddenly, the door seemed to shimmer, and the doors turned translucent for a second before fading away.

I peeked inside the room. Inside, I saw a large circular platform, emanating a black light. This platform was surrounded by a wall of light, causing it to stand out rather sharply. It was so similar to-

-the Station of Awakening.

A _reversed _Station of Awakening.

A Station of Unawakening.

"Rodney…" Ashley breathed, burying her face in my chest, "...How would you like a perfect world?"

"A… A perfect world?" I asked.

"One where darkness would never appear to bother the light; a world where peace and happiness reign, where the only rule is love. A world without darkness, and without hate.'

"Wouldn't that be a dream…" I sighed.

"Rodney…" she wrapped her arms around me, sliding up under my shirt. My breath trembled at the feel of her soft hands. "Will you help me make that world a reality?" She gazed into my eyes, and her own eyes sparkled with light. The light coming from them pierced into my body.

"What do I have to do?" I whispered, as I gazed into her glowing eyes.

"Once we begin, there will be no turning back." she whispered. "Can you make the ultimate sacrifice?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, stroking her hair.

"You must work with me. Only then in the Perfect World, can we be together." she whispered. "You must be willing to do whatever I ask of you."

"Anything." I whispered into her ear. "Anything."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Ashley Lightbringer: Worldbringers

I stood in a large circular room. There were many thrones arranged around the room. Each throne was made of a different ethereal color.

The first chair was a glowing white. Another of the chairs was an ethereal ice-blue, with a skull emblem on its backrest; a steady stream of ice vapor flowed from it, dissipating before it got far. The next chair was ethereal black, with technological markings on it. A symbol of a helmet was engraved on it. The fourth chair was jet black, and resembled a normal chair, the kind usually found in a office. The fifth char was yellow, and resembled the throne of Zeus. Yet another was a shifting white-gray. The final throne was an off-white

I stood in the center of the room. Marl Brood stood with me. After I had absorbed him, I had salvaged his essence from the Station of Unawakening, and given him a replica body to inhabit. Now, his mind subservient to my own, he was a useful tool. I had just sent him to gather the recruits that I needed in order to restore the worlds as one.

Now, we each took a throne. My throne was the glowing white one. I, as Mistress of the Keyblade, the Lady Harbinger, and the savior of the worlds, was the only one who would be worthy of it. Marl took the last throne, the off-white one.

The first recruit walked cautiously through the doorway. He was a man in his mid twenties, but with skin so pale he seemed to be dead. His white-blonde hair waved gently beneath a helmet. His armor was adorned with skull emblems and steel spikes. He was wearing a war helmet that seemed almost more like a crown. In his hands was a large sword, with one word engraved on it: _Frostmourne._

His voice echoed with a calm tone. "I heard that you wish to purge this land of the living, in order to create a new one in its place. Is this correct?" He asked.

"Yes." I said softly. "And I would like your help with it."

"Usually, I take orders from no one but the Lich King." He said. "You do realize that if we fail, I will die. Are you ready to accept that?"

"You are already dead." I spoke. A smile as cold as the void of space crept across his face.

"Well done, Mistress." he said calmly. He walked to the throne made of blue ice, and sat with one hand on his sword, which he stuck point down into the floor.

Arthas, Lich King.

I nodded to Marl.

A second figure strode imperiously through the doorway. This figure was wearing entirely black: a black cloak, and a black helmet, which made his breathing rather loud. However, instead of being comical, it was menacing.

"What is it that you want from me?" the newcomer asked.

"You are selected to aid us in our quest, Lord Vader." I spoke softly, as I had to Arthas. "Should we succeed, we will resurrect Padmé."

Darth Vader paused. Then he shrugged. "Just as long as you keep your end of this bargain." He fingered his light saber a moment, before taking the black technological throne.

Darth Vader, Sith Lord.

I nodded to Marl.

A third figure strode in. For a moment I hesitated… then I merely motioned to the jet black throne. A very familiar figure merely smirked, gave me a thumbs up, and took the throne. I was about to nod to Marl again when he spoke.

"I sure hope you know what your doing." Chris said.

No, not Chris Talonflight.

Chris Replica.

I nodded to Marl. Rodney walked in, glanced around. He walked up to me, and planted a kiss on my lips.

"There's no turning back now, is there?" he asked.

"No." I said softly. Rodney nodded slowly, and turned to take the Zeus throne.

The Final member of our group appeared from a dark portal. Another replica, but not of Chris. The figure wore a white cloak with black markings snaking all over it. His long gray hair framed a face in the twenties or thirties.

"It seems I may finally get my heart after all." Xemnas smiled.

"It will be good to work with you." I nodded.

Xemnas took his throne. The seven of us looked at one another.

"Listen." I spoke. "We all know what we need to do. I know that you guys don't need me to explain. So the only thing left is a banner to rally our followers behind."

"We need a name." Xemnas summarized. "A name gives a being power, a purpose, an identity."

"We'll need something powerful." Arthas mused.

"I know." Vader spoke. "The Survivors."

"No…" I shook my head. "The name 'survivors' conjures up imaged of a holocaust. We'll need something else…."

Then it hit me.

"The Worldbringers." I whispered.

"Those who bring the new era, and their Harbingers." Chris-Replica hissed appreciatively.

I looked around me. There would be seven Harbingers of the new world. The Worldbringers.

Darth Vader.

Lich King Arthas.

Rodney Zeus Castro.

Xemnas.

Marl Brood.

Chris-Replica.

And I: Ashley Lightbringer.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 11: Chris Talonflight: Surprise

I awoke groggily. Yuffie, as usual, was still asleep. I smiled as I looked down on her sleeping form. I stood and stretched, allowing my newly relaxed muscles to work off my sleep.

I exited the room, snatching a towel, and headed for my bathroom. Turning the knobs on the shower, I managed to get the water to an optimal temperature. I stood there, allowing the warm water to wash over me.

After my shower, I dressed and entered the training room. I switched on the controls, and entered my desired settings.

A hologram of Leon appeared in the arena. At the same time, Nudge appeared from a dark portal behind me. I smirked, and bent down to pet my friend.

"Squeak!" my small shadow heartless squealed, and jumped up to sit on my shoulder.

"You ready?" I asked my friend. Nudge nodded, and jumped down to the arena floor. I followed suit. When we landed, a barrier came up around the edges of the arena and the lights turned from a calm blue to a fierce red.

Holo-Leon and I clashed; his gunblade against my Soul Eater. Holo-Leon pushed me back a few feet, before I did a back flip behind me. I landed, and fired a weak bolt of dark energy at him. He dodged it, and began firing blasts at me from his gunblade. I used the darkness to propel me through midair in a gliding move. Then I called on Nudge to throw me towards Holo-Leon. My ally did as required, as well as conjuring a dark shield around me when I landed behind Holo-Leon. Holo-Leon was distracted with fending off Nudge, and I took the opportunity to kick him down. However, Holo-Leon then summoned a circle of explosions around him, knocking Nudge into a wall. I then engaged him in a slashing duel for a few moments. Then, when I again locked blades with him, I summoned a storm of black electricity. The storm slammed into Holo-Leon, sending him flying, but he managed to land on his feet. Holo-Leon had deflected the brunt of the attack with more explosions. I growled. Nudge ran up to me and hopped on my shoulders. He swayed for a moment, and then seemed to fuse with me. As a result from the excess darkness, I went darkness-form: The name I had dubbed the form of me when I had the black fighting outfit with the Heartless symbol, as well as the blindfold. I summoned the second Soul-Eater, and faced off with Holo-Leon again. Holo-Leon charged me. I deflected his gunblade with my two Soul Eaters. I launched myself into a karate kick, which missed, but I used my momentum to rebound off the wall and slam into the ground, creating a dark shockwave. The shockwave slammed into Holo-Leon, who recovered quickly, and fired a blast at me with his gunblade, knocking me from my feet. I rolled, and came up on Holo-Leon's left. I then sank into the ground, like a shadow heartless, and dashed around Holo-Leon. The wall of darkness I inscribed around him stayed there after I surfaced. Then I made the trap close in on him. However, when the wall exploded, Holo-Leon stood there, having used a Reflect spell at the last second. In anger, I slammed my swords together, and called on the power of Last Chaos, the dark keyblade. I flew at him. He tried to block my strike, but my animal strength broke his block, and pushed him back. He dodged. I grabbed his blade with my darkness covered hand, and wrenched it away. It fell on the other side of the makeshift arena. I then kicked him in the stomach, hurling him to the ground. I reared back for the final blow, and slashed through the Holo-Leon's neck.

The lights in the arena turned from red to blue. I sighed, and walked back to the control panel, shutting off the combat system. Nudge gave a sigh, and hopped along beside me. I reached down to pet him, and he squealed. Nudge wandered into the kitchen, and opened a container of orange juice. I walked into the bedroom, where I picked up Yuffie. Yuffie was still asleep, and she barely stirred as I picked her up. I carried her to the living room, where she finally started to stir.

"Wha…" she mumbled. "Wha… happen….to…th…bed?"

"Rise and shine, princess." I teased. Yuffie blinked her eyes, which focused on my face. A tired smile lit her eyes.

"Hi… What time is it?" she asked.

"Eleven thirty. After last night, I decided we needed the sleep." I said. "You have to get going if we want to meet with the king and still have you meet Frostmourne and Rodney before going to the space station."

"oh, right, I forgot." she yawned, but made no attempt to escape my grasp. "Carry me to my closet."

"Lazy." I teased, but I did as required, depositing her on her feet in front of her closet, where she proceeded to pick out her clothes. She selected a pair of white and purple shorts, and a purple shirt with a white heart symbol on it. Over this she put on a ceremonial ninja chest piece of white armor, which covered her chest and upper back, as well as her shoulders. On her calves, she strapped on a set of purple ninja leggings.

"Your wearing the ceremonial ninja armor." I noted.

"I know." she rolled her eyes. "But seriously, I think that appearances count."

I raised an eyebrow. "Says the person who met me wearing practically nothing but a headband."

"Don't lie, you enjoyed it." Yuffie poked me in the stomach. "that reminds me, where's that headband of mine?"

"What, isn't there a ceremonial ninja headband?" I joked.

"My headband is automatically ceremonial." she waved it off, wrapping her headband around her head. After pulling on a pair of fingerless gloves, she strapped her giant shuriken to her back, and began depositing kunai and shuriken into slits and pockets which I hadn't even been able to see.

"Okay, I'm ready!" she said, smiling up at me.

"Lets go then!" I smiled back, bending down slightly to kiss her before opening a portal. We walked through hand in hand, and emerged in Disney Castle. It was at that moment that I realized something.

"Umm… do you have any idea how to get to the throne room?" I asked Yuffie, completely at a loss.

"Your guess is as good at mine." she shrugged. Seeing the downcast expression on my face, she squeezed my hand gently. "But don't worry. We'll get there."

After several minutes of wandering the castle, I was turning a corner ahead of Yuffie when I saw two figures ahead of me, both clad in black coats, their backs to me. One of them had spiky red hair, and had on several spiky rings. The other one had his hood up, but I could see several knives in his hands. Both the rings on the first figure's fingers and the knives held by the second figure flickered as if reflecting flame.

I looked at Yuffie, and held up a finger for silence. She silently poked her head around the corner, looking at the figures.

I stealthily summoned Soul Eater, walking quietly up behind the figures. When I reached the closer one, the one with the hood and the knives, I clamped my hand on his shoulder and spun him around.

He lashed out with his knives. I saw a tongue of flame shoot from the knives as he slashed with them in an expert manner. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw flame blossoming in the hands of the other figure. Yuffie slashed with her keyblade, and the figure dodged.

"What the hell!" the hooded figure yelled as I charged at him. I started as I hear the voice, and nearly got slashed open by his flaming knives.

I knew that voice.

I leapt backwards, grabbing Yuffie and pulling her with me. I stared at the two figures standing in front of me. As I watched, the figure with the spiky hair engulfed his coat in flames, causing it to burn away, revealing a black and red tank top, with a dark gray button down collared shirt worn on top, unbuttoned, along with a pair of jeans. His arms were wrapped with white bandages. The second, hooded figure suddenly snapped his fingers causing red flame markings to cover his previously black top, which I realized now was merely a hoodie, not an Organization coat.

"Jesus? Kemar?" I asked. The two figures started, before straightening up.

"Oh shit…" the one with spiky hair said. "Chris?"

"Duh, Jesus." I smirked. "I haven't seen you guys for years."

Kemar, the one with the hood, lowered his hood, revealing his curly hair. He shook his head. "Dude. I know that the King was going to have us meet today, but I didn't know you had the darkness in you."

"the darkness is mine in the way that the fire is yours." I glanced at their weapons. "So you have clawing rings and knives. Your both fire-types, too. I guess this is the surprise that the king was telling me about."

"Unfortunately, you found it." a voice squeaked from behind me. I turned around, looked left and right, looked up, and then finally looked down and saw the king.  
"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Sorry, your majesty."

"They were the surprise: the knowledge that quite a few people in your world actually have suppressed powers. We found quite a few of them, and their actually undergoing training here in Disney castle." The King explained. "You'll meet others as we go along."

We all fell into step as the king began walking. Jesus and Kemar walked with us. Jesus noticed Yuffie first, since he had fought her briefly.

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced." he spoke smoothly. "I'm Jesus Cruz. What's your name?"

Yuffie looked at him, slightly amused. "Hey! I'm Yuffie Kisaragi Stromwind, the strongest ninja ever!"

"You're a ninja?" Jesus said. "Awesome!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Are you doing anything after this?" Jesus asked.

Yuffie winked discreetly at me. "Actually, I'm not doing anything. How about you?"

"Really?" Jesus said. "Me neither. How about we hang out somewhere?"

"And here we are!" the king said, obviously trying to fend off an impending fight over Yuffie. "This is the first of the training halls." he led us into a large square room. One of the walls was glass, and I realized we were in an overseers box overlooking the training area. "In this room is trainee 042. She has developed the ability to harness wind, similar to Xaldin, the former member of Organization XIII. However, instead of lances, she has these." he pointed down to the arena.

Hovering completely motionless above the ground was a girl with Chinese-American features. Her face was lit with concentration, and her hands were held out slightly to her sides, palms up. Rotating around her at incredible speeds were six different swords. As I watched, heartless continued to try and jump at her, but each time a sword would flicker out, and kill it, before returning to its rotation.

"Wind Blade." Kemar commented. "She likes that move.

"I don't believe it." I was more focused on her identity. Her hair was similar to Yuffie's in length and style. However, her hair had a green streak in the front. Her eyes, also, were not purple, but a deep brown. I nudged Kemar in the side.

"You still wanna tap that, huh?" I asked, teasingly.

Kemar glared. "that was HIGH SCHOOL, for god's sake!"

"What? Did you call me?" Jesus said.

"Huh?" Yuffie asked, confused.

"He said 'God'." Jesus protested.

I grabbed the microphone that was connected to the speakers. "Watch this." I said to the people in the room. Turning on the mike, I yelled.

"CHAN IS A MAN WITH A PLAN!" **(For anyone who goes to my school, you should recognize this).**

My friend from High school, Cynthia Chan, jumped two feet off of her platform of air. I grinned, and waved. When she saw me, she rolled her eyes, waved, and tried to suppress a smirk, while her wind blades decapitated yet another heartless.

"I had a feeling you'd show up." she yelled.

"Nice to see you too, Cynthia." I smirked. I then followed the King out of the cubicle, and into an adjacent one.

"Trainee number 041, ice-type." Kemar explained. "Ability to manipulate all under the cold's control."

"Daniel Chase." I smirked. Danny was scything a large sword through a group of heartless in a style similar to Saix from Organization XIII. He stopped suddenly, turned around in a 360 spin, causing ice spikes to shoot from his body. He parried a blow from a Paladin Heartless, a new kind I hadn't yet seen. The Paladin carried a double ended longsword, and was shaped like a man with a small head.

Chase snapped his fingers, and a white orb flew from the end of his sword, slamming into a Paladin Heartless, causing it to fly backwards. While it was still in midair, it froze solid, immobilized completely. When it his the ground, it shattered into fragments. The head of the Paladin came bouncing towards him. With a quick slash, he shattered it as well.

"He designed that sword himself." Jesus commented. "He named it 'Fate's Bad End'."

"Anyone who ends up facing that sword is certainly on Fate's Bad End." I nodded.

Daniel spotted me. He slashed a heartless in half, dodged under a Paladin's strike, and waved at me.

"Trainees 013 and 472 are in here, training together." the king led me into another overseer's booth. In the room below, I saw an African-American young man wielding a pure black scythe. The scythe seemed to crackle with a strange dark energy, but then would shine for an instant when he swung it, creating a white blur. Also, teleporting around the room was a second trainee, with Dutch-American features, firing a pair of large handguns. As I watched, he teleported up to a higher elevation. He pressed a switch in his guns, and inserted the barrel of the first gun into the second one. Also, the barrel of the second gun extended. After a few more modifications, he was holding a high-tech sniper rifle. From his new elevation, he fired at the simulated drones that were encircling the scythe wielder.

"Trainee 013, Keith Davis, wielding his personal battle scythe Skeith." Kemar said. "Don't you remember him? He went to high school with us."

"Yes, I do." I smiled reminiscently at the memory of the light hearted joker from my high school days. Days that seemed so long ago, now.

"And I believe you recognize trainee 472." the king pointed out.

"Yeah I do." I grinned, before opening a dark portal. I walked through it, entering the training grounds. "Jesse."

Instantly, a bullet bounced of the ground inches away from me. I flinched, before staring at Jesse. He saw that I was no ordinary heartless, and traded his sniper rifle for his pistols. Teleporting down, he started teleporting to random locations, firing at me. I merely summoned a shield of darkness around me, encasing me as I walked slowly towards Keith. I snapped my fingers, drawing his attention. He jumped at me, but I ducked under his scythe and blocked a riposte with Soul Eater. I jumped backwards, dodging a sniper shot from Jesse. Keith slashed at me yet again, which I deflected with a dark shield.

"Hey Keith." I said, chuckling. Keith started, and stared, his Skeith scythe disintegrating in his hands as he unconsciously dismissed it.

"Oh shit, Chris?" he laughed. "Where you been?"

Jesse's pistol shot brought me back into the present, and I barely ducked the shot by reflex. I back-flipped and kicked at Jesse. The instant before I hit him, he teleported to my other side. He swung the butt of his gun at me, and I dodged. He fired, and I ducked, before firing a dark Firaga. I glanced at my left armored arm, and concentrated hard. Sure enough, the black armor of my arm slowly grew white techno lines on it. I swung my hand, and it left a slight afterimage. This was the only light-based move I knew how to do: I named it Light Claws. I lashed out with it again, and Jesse dodged, before teleporting to the ground, next to Keith.

"Your good." he smirked. "Now who the hell are you?"

I feigned hurt. "Jesse! Are you serious? You don't recognize your own brother?"

Jesse flinched. "Ohhh! My bad! Seriously! I didn't recognize you!" then his embarrassment faded into anger. "So what if I didn't recognize you! You've been gone for around four years! How _would_ I recognize you?"

I laughed. "Your still as temperamental as always, Jess."

"Don't make me kick your ass." he warned.

"You can't." I smirked.

"And why not?" he asked, his voice dangerous.

"Because the king is right behind you." I explained.

Jesse whirled, and saw the king standing there. The king shook his head.

"I know that brothers are supposed to fight, but couldn't you two make peace for a few minutes?" the king tried to pacify. Jesse was still bristling, but he waved the king off, returning to his training. I smirked.

"He's still as tempermental as he always was." I grinned, speaking to the king. "Sorry for upsetting him, but hey: I gotta make up my sibling annoyance quota for all those years I missed!"

The king smiled a bit at that. We came up on a large room, similar to a lounge. The king left us here.

"I'm sure you guys have things you want to talk about." he explained. "You haven't seen each other for years; you should catch up." with that, he scurried from the room, seemingly intent on avoiding witnessing a battle between me and Jesus over Yuffie.

As if on cue, as soon as the king left the room, Jesus turned on the charm. "Hey Yuffie, after this, do you want to go to Destiny Islands with us?" He asked. "We were all going to go to the beach."

"The king is letting you borrow his Gummi Ship?" I asked.

"Yeah." they nodded. "Since we're the first ones to complete our training, we get a vacation."

Yuffie grinned, and winked discreetly at me again. "Well, are you sure your ready to battle the Harbingers?"

"Definitely." Jesus nodded.

Yuffie stood, and stretched. However, in the middle of the stretch, we heard a _ssssthunk_ noise, and all looked at Jesus to see a shuriken sticking out of the wall an inch away from his face,

Yuffie smiled predatorily. "You sure about that?"

Jesus stood slowly. "Was that a challenge?" he smirked.

"Definitely." Yuffie smiled.

Yuffie was smirking confidently. She didn't even look tired. In her right hand was her giant shuriken, and in her left was a kunai.

Jesus, on the other hand, looked exhausted. His hands were covered in flame, and his eyes were et determinedly on Yuffie.

Yuffie suddenly disappeared in a flash of smoke. She reappeared behind Jesus, slashing at him with her kunai. Jesus managed to dodge forwards, avoiding her slash, and lashed out with his fist, flame coming from it in a stream, directed at Yuffie.

Yuffie hurled a kunai at him. He intercepted it with a fireball. She dodged past him, slicing at him with another kunai as she ran. Then Jesus threw a large fireball. Yuffie threw her giant X shaped Shuriken. The two projectiles bounced off of each other, the fireball dissipating, the giant shuriken landing in Yuffie's hands.

"Out of the way!" Jesus yelled, as he ran forwards, leaving a trail of flames behind. Yuffie dodged, hurling shurikens and kunai at him. He countered with fireballs.

This battle had been going on for the last hour. During this hour, Kemar and I had successfully eaten ice cream, gone to see the final three trainees (Locks, who wielded brass knuckles Imbued with limited gravity powers; Kaelin, who wielded a sword suspiciously similar to that sword from Inu-Yasha; and Sparky, who wore stylish clothes and a nice hat, and decimated his opponents with a cane sword.

"All right guys, time to stop." I called, opening a dark portal to the arena floor. Yuffie relaxed, sheathing her weapons and walking over to me. She hadn't even used her keyblade. She turned around and leaned on me, facing Jesus. I crossed my arms over her, hugging her from behind. I arched my eyebrow at Jesus, who frowned. I discreetly tapped my wedding ring against Yuffie's, and Jesus's eyes widened.

He hadn't realized he was hitting on a married woman.

I laughed, and waved him over. "Come on. I've got to drop Yuffie off at the Gummi Hanger. She's going to inspect Ashley's own personal ISS." I frowned. "Are you sure that you want to go?"

"You know I am." she nodded. "It'll be fine." she grabbed my hand. "I'll be going with Frostmourne, Chris. To him, even a type A Harbinger would be just a bit of fun. While he took care of it, he would be telling me a story about a bit of REAL trouble, like an army of High Inquisitors."

"All right, all right, I know when I'm beat." I put up my Hands in surrender.

We all walked out of the room, and realized that none of us knew how to get to the Hanger. That was a laugh.


End file.
